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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Sharing is Sweeter

Supplies Used: "The Story Of" template - In the Making Design; Cottontail Papers and Embellishments - Samantha Walker; Easter Bingo Card Kit - Jenni Bowlin Studio; Printed Tickets Baby Boy & Girl - Jenni Bowlin Studio; Date Labels - Jenni Bowlin Studio. All supplies available from JessicaSprague.com

I wasn't quite sure how the Easter Egg hunt would go this year. Apparently Carter showed more interest in playing on the playground than on the egg hunt they had at school. So I figured the egg hunt at home might turn out the same way. We don't have many trees or bushes, so the brightly colored eggs were pretty obvious. David was off to a quick start and I started trying to point out eggs to Carter so he would keep up. Every time he would spot one David was right there to pick it up too. But then something awesome happened. Without any prompting from us, David started putting eggs into Carter's bucket. He would pick up one or two for himself then the next find he would give to his brother.

Sharing really is sweeter.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Week in the Life - Friday

I've decided to participate in a special project this week called "Week in the Life". I will be documenting the daily details of our lives with pictures and words and reflecting a bit on the parts that I'm especially grateful for. This project is inspired by scrapbooker/blogger/artist Ali Edwards, who does this one week each year and encourages others to participate.

As it happens, this week will be a week chock full of activity, family, and special moments. Both our boys celebrate their birthdays! For that reason this project seemed especially appropriate this year. I really hope I can be faithful in my picture taking and journaling (historically two things I struggle with). I will be posting my pictures and some of my journaling here on my blog over the course of the week but then I will assemble it all into a set of scrapbook pages after it's done.  Thanks for sharing the week with me!

The Day


6:30am - We get to sleep in a little this morning because the boys have a pediatrician appointment. After several cold, wet mornings it's nice to have sunlight streaming through the windows!

8:30am - The boys and I go to Chick-Fil-A (or as Carter says, "Coo Coo Lay") for breakfast. This is a big treat for the boys - they LOVE eating here, especially since there is an indoor play place there. Love sitting at breakfast across the table from my two boys.



9:00am - Visit with the pediatrician for annual check ups. We are so blessed to have two healthy boys who do all the things that 4 year olds and 2 year olds are supposed to do (even the things that annoy us). I always love seeing our doctor - he is amazing. The boys are so good - they never complain about doctor visits. It doesn't hurt that visits usually end with stickers and lollipops!

(David showing off his "muscles"!)

10:00am - Drop off the boys at school just in time for them to have their class pictures taken. Whew! The day is already off to a whirlwind start. I get to work about a half hour later and spend the first few minutes feeling a little lonely and missing the kids. It's always like that when I get to spend more time with the boys than usual before coming to work.  Hmmm..another reason to get up early? You'd think I would learn by now.  :-)

12:00pm - My co-worker and I decide to enjoy the beautiful weather and eat outside in the courtyard at the office. I could stay out here the rest of the day!


1:00pm - A meeting to work on strategy for an upcoming project. I'm starting to feel stressed again.



5:00pm - Ready to stop being stressed and go pick up the kids!

5:30pm - I forget the camera at school. I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to see if we got any good school pictures from today.

6:00pm - Home. I start baking cupcakes and we order dinner. I alternate baking and eating. :-)


7:00pm - My parents come over. Mom are here to help me decorate cupcakes and get the party favor bags together. Dad is here to help with the kid-wrangling. Much tickling ensues.


9:30pm - I have to make a quick trip to the store for more icing for the cupcakes. I forget to buy candy for the favor bags (sigh) so I'll have to do it in the morning. Here's a preview of our "Monsters, Inc" themed birthday party tomorrow...


Can't wait to see tomorrow's pics! It's going to be a great day.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Week in the Life - Thursday

I've decided to participate in a special project this week called "Week in the Life". I will be documenting the daily details of our lives with pictures and words and reflecting a bit on the parts that I'm especially grateful for. This project is inspired by scrapbooker/blogger/artist Ali Edwards, who does this one week each year and encourages others to participate.

As it happens, this week will be a week chock full of activity, family, and special moments. Both our boys celebrate their birthdays! For that reason this project seemed especially appropriate this year. I really hope I can be faithful in my picture taking and journaling (historically two things I struggle with). I will be posting my pictures and some of my journaling here on my blog over the course of the week but then I will assemble it all into a set of scrapbook pages after it's done.  Thanks for sharing the week with me!

The Day


6:30am - Wet and dreary again this morning, but at least it's warmer. The boys dress in matching outfits today because they will be getting their pictures taken at school. We were actually up and dressed and eating breakfast a few minutes after 7, which is good for us. I went out to the garden to take a peek at how things are faring and I found two newly ripened strawberries! (And these ones hadn't been gnawed on by critters yet.) The boys and I shared them. They weren't very sweet, but they were OURS.  :-)


7:40am - The boys are at school getting their pictures taken. I tried not to be too obvious snapping a few pics of my own - I didn't want to get in the photographer's way. At least one of the shots she got is going to be SO CUTE - I can hardly wait to see it! I attempted to take another picture of them before I left, but they were being a little too silly to stand still for long...


8:30am - Working.


11:45am - It's drizzling outside as I leave for lunch. I thought it was supposed to reach 78 degrees today! It sure doesn't feel like it.


12:00pm - Eating lunch out with my mom at our favorite spot.


Meanwhile, at daycare...



Yep. That's my kid.

6:00pm - Back home. Dinner tonight was a pretty laid back affair since I hadn't taken anything out of the freezer and I really didn't feel like cooking anyway. The boys ate cereal/cereal bars, some applesauce, cheese sticks, etc. I had cereal too - my favorite Great Grains with raisins, dates, pecans. Yum.


6:30pm - I go upstairs for a little down time to upload photos, write the blog post, etc. Pretty soon it will be the usual bath/bed routine for the kids then a bit more computer time before bed.

Friday will be a busy day - excitement is building around here for celebrating the boys' birthdays on Saturday. Much cupcake baking will occur tomorrow! Stay tuned for those pics.  :-)

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Week in the Life - Wednesday

I've decided to participate in a special project this week called "Week in the Life". I will be documenting the daily details of our lives with pictures and words and reflecting a bit on the parts that I'm especially grateful for. This project is inspired by scrapbooker/blogger/artist Ali Edwards, who does this one week each year and encourages others to participate.

As it happens, this week will be a week chock full of activity, family, and special moments. Both our boys celebrate their birthdays! For that reason this project seemed especially appropriate this year. I really hope I can be faithful in my picture taking and journaling (historically two things I struggle with). I will be posting my pictures and some of my journaling here on my blog over the course of the week but then I will assemble it all into a set of scrapbook pages after it's done.  Thanks for sharing the week with me!

The Day

Wednesday was definitely "hump day" this week. More like "speed bump day". Week in the Life pictures just didn't happen much today. Everyone had a rough day today and we were all feeling it by the evening. Hopefully a good night's sleep and some warmer weather will make tomorrow a better day.

6:30am - Wet and dreary this morning. I'm tired. I dress a little nicer than usual because I have a meeting this afternoon, but then had to go out in the wet grass to uncover the garden beds.

8:00am - Drop off the kids at school, leaving a camera with Carter's teacher so that they can capture a few shots of him today at school. I hope they get some good pictures!

11:30am - Lunch at an Indian restaurant with a co-worker, then back to the office. I forgot to take a picture - I was too busy scarfing down the delicious food! So far I'm being pretty slack on pictures today.

3:30pm - Important meeting finished (thank goodness). Just a little while longer before the day is over!  Good thing too, because I have a headache.

5:00pm - Leaving work...the weather has definitely improved. Sunroof open!

5:30pm - The kids didn't get good naps today at school because a fire drill interrupted the nap time. I forgot to pick up the camera from Carter's class to bring it home. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the pictures his teacher took.

6:00pm - Making quesadillas, one of our favorite weeknight meals. We eat together, then I go upstairs for a little bit to change sheets on beds, do laundry, etc before the kids' bath time.



Our roses are blooming like crazy - the branches are heavy with huge blossoms. They are so gorgeous.


8:15pm - Bath time then pajamas. Everyone is tired, grouchy and in a funk.

9:00pm - I still have a headache. I'm in my pajamas writing the blog post for today...lights out by 10:30!

sometime in the middle of the night...we had a brief thunderstorm, which meant that David joined us in bed, which also meant I woke up contorted and falling off the edge of the bed. :-)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Week in the Life - Tuesday

I've decided to participate in a special project this week called "Week in the Life". I will be documenting the daily details of our lives with pictures and words and reflecting a bit on the parts that I'm especially grateful for. This project is inspired by scrapbooker/blogger/artist Ali Edwards, who does this one week each year and encourages others to participate.

As it happens, this week will be a week chock full of activity, family, and special moments. Both our boys celebrate their birthdays! For that reason this project seemed especially appropriate this year. I really hope I can be faithful in my picture taking and journaling (historically two things I struggle with). I will be posting my pictures and some of my journaling here on my blog over the course of the week but then I will assemble it all into a set of scrapbook pages after it's done.  Thanks for sharing the week with me!

The Day


6:30am - Very similar to Monday's entry. I did go out and uncover my garden beds before leaving for work. Boy, was I glad that I put those blankets on last night! There was a layer of frost over everything. My bush beans would probably have died for sure if I hadn't covered them, but they look OK. Hooray! I'll probably cover them again tonight.


8:00am - Happy Birthday, Carter!!  His awesome teacher makes these incredible posters when each child in the class has a birthday. She uses different characters for each one, and Carter's poster featured our good buddy Mickey Mouse! (She hand cuts these...no Cricut or Silhouette involved!)


8:30am - Work. Meh. Had to make some changes to the report I built yesterday.

12:00pm - Had to run an errand at lunch time then hurry back for a 1:00 conference call. My lunch consisted of an Arby's sandwich and fries consumed before and after my call.


3:00pm - Hit the snack machine for some cookies. Need energy to tackle work this afternoon. We have a very very busy few months ahead of us and I'm getting kind of stressed about it.


5:00pm - The clouds in the sky looked so awesome this afternoon on my drive from work to daycare.


5:30pm - Shortly after we arrive home we decide to go outside to enjoy some sunshine and to take pictures, especially since it's Carter's birthday. Hands down, my favorite moment of the day.


6:30pm - Dave and I don't really feel like eating a big dinner, so I have cereal and I make some dinner for the boys. Carter got to eat out of the special "red bowl". When I was growing up my family had a single place setting of red dishes with white hearts around the edges. This was the special "red plate" that you got to use if it was your birthday or you were celebrating some other special day. When we started our families, my parents gave my brother and I both a red place setting of our own. I have kind of forgotten about it for past birthdays - have to make sure we observe this tradition more often!


7:00pm - I get a little bit of a break to catch up on blog reading/emails/etc while Dave watches the kids.
I was recently accepted to the creative team at JessicaSprague.com (yay!) so I have a lot of things to read and comprehend about how that will work.

8:15pm - The kids come upstairs for bath time. Just to make things easier, Dave undresses them downstairs so they can just come up and get in the tub. Little David did this really silly little dance on the way up where he wiggled his little naked butt and hips - he had me laughing pretty hard. It feels so good to laugh with the kids. I need to do that more often.

8:30pm - The kids and I sit together in bed for a few minutes watching a show before bedtime. Love my boys.


9:00pm - I put Carter in bed and say "Good night." On my way out the door I hear his little two-year old voice call out "See you 'morrow, Mommy". Love, love, love.

9:15pm - I go downstairs to get some angel food cake and discover that hubby has finished off the last of the homemade strawberry freezer jam I made last weekend. I grumble and go out to the garage to get another from the freezer, but secretly I am happy that it turned out so well and that we love it enough to finish an entire jar in a matter of days. Good thing the recipe made 8 jars!

9:30pm - I'm in my PJs about to get in bed with my cake and my laptop when I realize that I forgot to cover the garden beds tonight. Sigh. I put on shoes and a jacket and go out in the dark backyard praying that I don't come across snakes or anything else creepy out there. These bush beans had better be blue ribbon-worthy, is all I can say.

9:45pm - Cake and laptop, finally! Finalizing the blog post for tomorrow.


Monday, April 23, 2012

Week in the Life - Monday

I've decided to participate in a special project this week called "Week in the Life". I will be documenting the daily details of our lives with pictures and words and reflecting a bit on the parts that I'm especially grateful for. This project is inspired by scrapbooker/blogger/artist Ali Edwards, who does this one week each year and encourages others to participate.

As it happens, this week will be a week chock full of activity, family, and special moments. Both our boys celebrate their birthdays! For that reason this project seemed especially appropriate this year. I really hope I can be faithful in my picture taking and journaling (historically two things I struggle with). I will be posting my pictures and some of my journaling here on my blog over the course of the week but then I will assemble it all into a set of scrapbook pages after it's done.  Thanks for sharing the week with me!

The Day


6:30am - Our Monday morning started pretty typically for our weekdays. Dave and I sleep past the time when we should get up - laying in bed half-conscious listening to NPR on the radio. So then when we finally get up we race around to get ourselves and the kids ready in time. (Just keeping it real, here, folks.) I get in the shower and start getting ready while he irons and gets the kids up and dressed.


For some reason David was moving even slower than usual this morning. (I have found that children's urgency is inversely proportional to the urgency of their parents.) The kids sat down to eat a quick breakfast together in the playroom before we headed out the door for daycare and work. Lately I've been eating breakfast in the car on the way to work - usually coffee and a bagel.



9:00am - Quick morning meeting, then I finalized a presentation I had to send out for an important meeting on Wednesday. The rest of the day should be pretty quiet, which will hopefully give me a chance to get some real work done on my to-do list.


12:00pm - I ate lunch at my desk today. Sadly, the cuisine was not exactly five star (weird pasta from the cafe at the office), but it was better than starving.  :-)



3:30pm - I finally managed to finish a report that had needed to get done for a while now. Whew! It feels good to have that just about wrapped up. Sent it out for review before I publish it. How much longer 'til 5:00?

5:30pm - Pick up the kids at daycare. David had a good day, behavior-wise, so I let them get snacks from the vending machine (always a big treat!)




6:00pm - Arrive home to meet hubby, who had a stressful day at work and was kicked back on the sofa relaxing. (Got to love him, though, as stressed out as he was he had unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher before I arrived!) I made a quick pizza for dinner and the kids and I ate together at the table while Dave puttered around in the kitchen (he had pizza for lunch, so he was eating other stuff). As usual, Carter stuffed his face while little David left his entire pizza on his plate uneaten. He declared that he "doesn't like cheese" and then proceeded to ask me for a cheese stick. He has been very picky lately.


7:00pm - Dave went out to the garage to work on his woodworking project - a cedar chest he designed. I went out to the garden to prep the beds for the cold weather we're expecting tonight. It's another unseasonably cool day here again today - the spring weather we should have had in March instead of the 80 degree weather we actually had. These late cold snaps have really put a kink in my garden plans this spring. I discovered that my first strawberry had ripened - and to my dismay also learned that some little critter had found it first! I covered the beds with blankets and prayed that my beans would survive the night. The cabbage is still looking good, and we have more strawberries yet to ripen, so I may get one yet!


7:30pm - Bath time followed by pajamas and a brief TV show before books and bed.


8:45pm - I finally sit down to go through my pictures and update the blog post. Hooray! Ready to be linked up tomorrow.

9:15pm - Ugh. I remember that the kids have to bring bagged lunches to school tomorrow. I head downstairs to make the lunches, get coffee set up for tomorrow morning, and grab a bedtime snack.

9:45pm - Finally sitting in bed in my PJs with my laptop and my snack. Ahhhhhhhh. Time to relax.

Observations
We really need to get up earlier. I hate starting the day out rushed, panicked, and grouchy. It's not fair to the kids and it doesn't set a good tone for the day.

Today I'm thankful for...
  • two kids to feed and dress - they won't always need us like they do now
  • a job to come to every day

Favorite Moment

Sitting in bed with my laptop and a bedtime snack at the end of a long day...just relaxing. (I have to admit, that's my favorite part of most weekdays!)